Henry's Freedom Box

Title: Henry's Freedom Box
Author: Ellen Legine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Genre: Historical Fiction

Henry's Freedom Box is about a young African American boy that is a slave and gets taken away from his wife and children to be a slave for a family that bought him. There was one man named Dr. Smith, who agreed that slavery was wrong. They decided to sent Henry in a box to Pennsylvania to get away from being a slave for life. He had to go through trials such as giving himself an injury so he would be aloud to stay home from work (he had to lie so he could get away from the family he is a slave for, so he could meet Dr. Smith and get sent away to good people).

There are many lessons to be taught in this book! The main topic for this book is slavery. I would teach this book to a fourth grade classroom because the reading level is 3rd-5th, but I think that fourth would be able to comprehend a little bit better what slavery is and the seriousness of it. Slavery was a major issue back then. This book is based on a true story of Henry "Box" Brown who escaped slavery from being shipped in a box, just as the story explains. This book will teach kids the severity of slavery in the 1800s and early 1900s.